Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Notspherry t1_jb5y33r wrote

Reply to comment by distortionwarrior in Study reveals that although private automobiles continue to be the dominant travel mode in American cities, the share of car trips has slightly and steadily decreased since its peak in 2001. In contrast, the share of transit, non-motorized, and taxicab trips has steadily increased by giuliomagnifico

There are a lot of assumptions here that I do not agree with.

Full disclosure: I live on the outskirts of a 70k town in the netherlands. Definitely not in a big city.

First, giving people the option to ride for transportation does not equate forcing people to ride. If your local steakhouse adds burgers to the menu they are not forcing you to only eat burgers.

Second, dropping off my kids at daycare/school has never been more than a 10 minute detour. The way towns are set up here means that most daily destinations like schools, shops, doctors and sports facilities are always close to residential area's. This means chaining several trips together by bike is very easy.

Third: cars coststake up a large part of the budget of young families. Cutting (a part) of these costs means being able to afford a better house, or working less. I see lots of mothers who cycle everywhere, with or without kids, because it is the most convenient way to get around.

4

distortionwarrior t1_jb6arqe wrote

What you're saying is that you want people to completely blow up their lives and cities so they can take up your hobby of bike riding, whether it works for them or not. As with all conversations like this, I say you can do whatever you want up to the point that your freedoms do not take away other people's freedoms. You can be a gun owner, you can be a bike owner, you can be a presbyterian, you can be a vegan, but don't force any of that on anyone else. You are free to ride your bike and set up your life in any way you like, but where I live, it doesn't work for me or my city, and the juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Childcare is horribly expensive and waiting lines are months or years long, jobs are far away, housing in the city is small and horribly expensive, and the government should not be in the business of taking away thousands of our very limited parking spots so some people can have the privilege of riding their bike on the main road instead of one block in either parallel direction.

−1